michedarnd Member

Well, honestly, in our culture, commenting on a WOMAN'S musculature is likely to carry the connotation that she's unfeminine, even though a lot of men prefer definition (and a woman who has some energy!!), so, "skinny" is the best that people can come up with. Now, if someone says that I have a "skinny" *WAIST*, I'll be…

Welcome, and nice start!!

It is a little difficult to answer with such a short time period and without access to your diary, but, there are several possibilities, here. First, it takes a little more than two weeks to figure out how your body best works. If you have lost SIZE, then you seem to still be going in the right direction, and sometimes,…

For bowling, I wouldn't even bother counting it except as a few shoulder-swings. I wouldn't bother putting it into my exercise diary, personally. There simply isn't enough sustained activity, and the amount of effort expended to bowl a strike is about 10 seconds, or less. If you keep using heavier and heavier balls, you…

Yes. I DO hate that. Your body never plateaus going UP -- even when you are eating less and less, but it happily comes to a screeching halt going DOWN and FIGHTS you to keep unhealthy fat hanging all over the place -- and killing you. It's ENRAGING. However, instead of having such profoundly low calorie counts, I would…

Hormones definitely start to change before you stop, completely, although your fibroids may keep you irregularly bleeding LONGER than you otherwise would. You tend to start irregularity and hot flashes quite some time before completely stopping. It's called being "peri-menopausal." I've never heard of using progesterone…

I'm guessing that that's not entirely true, or Atkins wouldn't work, but the point about watching your calories, regardless, is well taken.

It also gives me a planned time to get in treats that I occasionally crave without breaking out of my diet and stressing myself out about somehow having "failed." As the previous poster said, the same-every-day thing gets stressful, after a while. Weekly totals (if you don't use it as an excuse to pig out!!) are more…

It helps *me* I tend to plateau at the drop of a hat, so I started using it to break out of one, and it helped. That said, if you are eating back your exercise calories (and actually logging the calories you are burning), you are pretty much doing that, anyway. I don't only have a high-exercise/high-calorie cycle, though.…

And... more specifically... In my diet, I seek to stay under the carbohydrate count most of the time. This is the nature of the kind of diet that I am on. The original point of the question was whether going over on sugar while remaining under the carbohydrates is a problem. MFP specifically calculates your sugar as a…

Aye yaye yaye!!! I was asking for various experiences and opinions. So... 1) I am already insulin-resistant, which means that the sugar matters 2) The concern about OVER-abundance in sugar and fat being part of what leads to heart disease is BASED on research -- I do NOT know how MUCH or what KINDs of these things are the…

THANK YOU. That was what I wanted to hear. Not that I won't ask a doctor, myself, in most cases, but I was wondering what the dieticians/doctors might have told people. (Wow. Just noticed the typo in the title. Oh, well)

Neanderthin -- as I understand it, two of the largest contributors to heart disease are an OVERABUNDANCE of fat and an OVERABUNDANCE of sugar. I eat fruit daily. But, I've been struggling to keep my total counts of both things in the green. I believe that her point is that, struggle or not, it is a valid goal to keep it…

Heh. My cooking is MUCH more palatable to me than what I can get in a restaurant! :-) Actually, though, it's not entirely true that you'll lose, regardless. Your body may just adjust its function, and you won't be reducing certain things that adversely affect your health (like the SODIUM). If you do not give your body…

I would chalk it up to the learning process. It's not a great idea to stuff in food at night just to get the calories. If nothing else, you might get indigestion!

I explicitly zig-zag my calorie count. (You can google for "zig zag diet"). On the days that I reserve to be higher calorie, I will add in a treat that I normally have no room for. I don't have days where I simply don't watch my calories, at ALL, but I set my limit for a weekly total rather than a daily one. It allows you…

More than 12 years... I expect to stay that way. I haven't been looking, and I don't really intend to. The reasons are complicated, and I don't hate men, at ALL, but I'm simply not going there, any more.

I STRONGLY recommend using the diary. One of the best things about it, besides the calorie-counting and the ability to tell when you are over/under-eating -- is that it also helps you track your macro-nutrients. Also, I REALLY hope you are taking a multivitamin. You NEED those extra nutrients as well as the simple reality…

I brew it with a bag of herbal peppermint. It's easier to drink peppermint green tea unadulterated.

It depends upon how you gained it, etc. For someone with 30 to lose to aim for 30 in that short a period of time is probably NOT extraordinarily realistic. I remember when I was younger having 30 to lose. It took me two years, and I don't think that I ever actually REACHED the full 30 pounds. I was VERY strong and fit by…

The salad with tuna also goes MARVELOUSLY with shrimp.

Flavored vinegars. I love to make a spinach salad with some cherry tomatoes, edamame, raw broccoli, spinach leaves, and sweet and spicy tuna and grated cheddar cheese. Then, I dab some fig-infused (or pear-infused) white balsamic vinegar. It's luscious. If you have well-seasoned taco meat (lean), you can also make a taco…

Already having bad knees, I was SPECIFICALLY TOLD to avoid Jillian Michaels. I do knee bends, squats, lunges, sit-ups, crunches, push-ups, standing-leg-lifts, etc. Then, I use my elliptical, heavily. I do a lot of my workouts with mini-hand-weights, and I make certain that I exercise my legs and arms at the same time --…

Of course, after going prematurely menopausal (while still single), it was pretty hard to care about much. Being "past-usefulness" at that young an age decimated my self-esteem, destroyed my physical comfort and any hopes of a future, and since it takes an act of God for me to lose weight, finding the motivation to remove…

Twin pregnancy -- bed rest -- and a generalization of my expected caloric (while pregnant) intake without taking my size into account -- then, premature menopause, shaky thyroid, mild insulin-resistance (think I've had that since the gestational diabetes), and a body determined to fight every pound I tried to lose. :-P

I thought that the general advice that it gave about how much you SHOULD lose, how long it should take to lose it, and the information on why you should have a long phase that gets your body USED to the new weight to be useful and plausible. I know that "all-protein" diets make me feel AWFUL, though, so I've not really…

Greek yogurt, almonds or pepitas, and an apple, some berries, or other fruit.

Bookmarking.

I plateaued really quickly, too. I reduced my goals to one pound per week rather than two, and then I started doing zig-zag dieting. It got me out of the plateau, but you really do NEED to ratchet up your calories on those days slated for it.

I find 1800 calories in a day to be high -- but THAT is often because I try to fill it with purely healthy choices. If you are eating grilled chicken breast, boiled eggs, unsweetened oatmeal, cottage cheese, and green-leafy vegetables, actually getting up to 1800 calories can be a challenge -- esPECIALLY if you are trying…